PR96078

BEIJING, May 19, 2022 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

China on Wednesday reaffirmed its commitment to high-standard opening-up and

pledged to foster a business environment based on market principles.

"I wish to reiterate that China's resolve to open up at a high standard will

not change, and that the door of China will open still wider to the world,"

Chinese President Xi Jinping said when addressing the conference of the 70th

anniversary of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade

(CCPIT) and the Global Trade and Investment Promotion Summit via video link.

"China will continue to foster an enabling business environment that is based

on market principles, governed by law and up to international standards," Xi

said.

The world's second-largest economy will pursue high-standard implementation of

the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement and

high-quality Belt and Road cooperation and offer more market, investment and

growth opportunities to the global business community, he said.

Despite challenges posed by the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, China achieved a

strong trade performance in the first quarter of the year, with total goods

imports and exports surging 29.2 percent year on year to 8.47 trillion yuan

(about $1.25 trillion), data from General Administration of Customs showed.

In the first quarter, China's trade with countries along the Belt and Road rose

21.4 percent year on year to reach 2.5 trillion yuan (about $370 billion). The

country's trade with the other 14 RCEP members amounted to 2.67 trillion yuan

(about $395 billion), up 22.9 percent year on year and accounting for 31.5

percent of its total imports and exports during the period.

Since its establishment in 1952, the CCPIT has played an important role in

strengthening the bond of interests between Chinese and foreign enterprises,

promoting international economic and trade exchanges and promoting the

development of relations, Xi said.

The 70-year journey of the CCPIT has been "an epitome of China's ever-expanding

opening-up endeavor, and an important witness of how businesses from different

countries could share in development opportunities and benefit from win-win

cooperation," he added.

Xi calls for making 'pie' of cooperation bigger

Noting that economic globalization is experiencing headwinds and the world is

entering a new period of volatility and transformation, the president made

several proposals.

Joint efforts are needed in defeating the pandemic, he said, adding that it is

important to put people and their lives first, actively engage in international

cooperation on vaccine R&D, production and distribution, and bolster global

public health governance.

On reinvigorating trade and investment, he stressed supporting the World Trade

Organization (WTO)-centered multilateral trading regime, ensuring security and

stability of the global industrial and supply chains, and making the "pie" of

cooperation bigger to allow development gains to better trickle down to people

of all countries.

He also emphasized the efforts to unleash the power of innovation in driving

development, calling for fostering an open, fair, equitable and

non-discriminatory environment for scientific and technological development.  

On improving global governance, he said true multilateralism must be upheld.

"We should choose dialogue over confrontation, tear down walls rather than

erect walls, pursue integration instead of decoupling, opt for inclusiveness,

not exclusion, and guide reforms of the global governance system with the

principle of fairness and justice," he said.

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2022-05-18/President-Xi-reiterates-China-s-resolve-to-open-up-at-high-standard-1a8MutaXcli/index.html

SOURCE: CGTN